Mechanism for controlling piano-players or the like.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

'I'. TURNEY, 0F NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO AMERICAN PLAYER ACTIOE COMXANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

Specification ef Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 12, 1916.

Application filed May 6, 19l2. Serial No. 695,511.

-a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city, county, and State ot New York, have invented new and useful lm- -pl'ovements in Mechanism for Controlling Piano-Players or the like, of which the tollowing is a specification.

This invention aims to provide a certain improved mechanism for automatically controlling the position ot an adjustable element ot' a piano player or other apparatus. The adjustment is etiected by an undulating pressuretending to cause the adjustment in first one direction and then the other; or by a continuous flow ot' air under varying pressure; or'by exerting two forces continuously in opposite directions and varying ythe relation between these forces as adjustment becomes necessary in one direction or the other; and is especially adapted, for example, tothemaintaining of proper lateral registration or tracking, of the music sheet ot' a piano player.

The accompanying drawing` illustrates by way ot' example. parts o't` a piano player embodying the invention; the single ligure being a. trout elevation, partly in section, ot such parts as are directly related to the improvement.

Referring to the drawing, A, B are side members of the fixed `frame which carries the tracker board C, and usually carries also the Arolls Q and C2 tor winding-on and for rew-inding the perforated music sheet I)` which passes over the tracker board. For the sake of clearness only one perforation D is indicated, being in px-oper. register with the aperture D2 in the tracker board.

In order to maintain the proper lateral rela-tion of thesheet with the tracker board it has been proposed to shift the tracker board or to shift the sheet by suitable adjustment of its rolls and otherwise; and the present invention may be applied to any of these known methods of adjustment. But for the sake of simplicity ot construction it is especially applicable to, and is illustrated in connection with, a movable trackerboard.

T he tracker board is Shit'tal'ile laterally ofV the sheet, being` provided with a painof guide pins E andF at one end passmg through the side frame B and with a single pin G at the other end passing through the side frame A.

The adjusting mechanism includes a spiral spring H bearing against the side frame A and against a collar J which is mounted on the pin G and is adjustable in position thereon by means of a set screw K so as to permit of manual. variation of the force of the spring. This spring exerts a continuous torce tending to shift the tracker board C to the left. For shifting it to the right I provide a pneumatic or bellows having a fixed plateL attached to the side frame A and a movable plate M' carrying a forwardly projecting arm N faced with a felt pad-O which bears against the rounded end ot the pin G. A suction is maintained continuously in the bellows so that the arm N presses continuously against the end of the pin G and tends continuously to shift the tracker board to the right.

I purpose to maintain a continuous suction within the bellows and to merely vary the force of the suction within thepneumatic more or less as the necessity for' adjustment is greater or less, thus maintaining in tact a continuous current of air With an undulating pressure or suction for effecting the desired adjustments, in contradistinction to previous apparatus which only bring the adjusting forces into play intermittently. By thislmeans-an extremely nice regulation is secured, the slightest departure :from exact registration causing a corresponding increase or decrease in the pressure sufficient to correct, the er'ror. The adjustments and readju'stments are always very slight and thefsheet'is held in exact registration or substantially so at all times. In -fact scarcely any movement of the tracker bar can be seen. At the same time I have found that vthis continuous system permits of an extreme simplification of the apparatus, the valves and valve-operating diaphragms of the previqus apparatus being unnecessary with thev present system, and the pneumatic connections being reduced to the simplest possible constructions.

ln the mechanism illustrated the interior ot the pneumaticlor bellows L, M communicates through asma-ll bleed holel? (which is valveless and is continuously open and open always to a uniform extent) with a suction pipe Q communication with the usual vacuum chest or Wind chest Q in which a suction is continuously maintained by any suitable mechanism; and the pneumatic communicates also through a small iexible tube R with a tracking-control aperture S in a block T which normally moves with the tracker bar and constitutes practically a part thereof. At the moment ot starting, the aperture S is entirely covered. lint the suction quickly shifts the block T to the right and in the normal running position of the sheet its right hand edge partially covers' the aperture S. The quantity of air admitted through S is such that the suction Within the pneumatic is just sufficient to balance the force of the spring H. Now when the sheet shifts to the lleft a greater quantity of air is admitted through the aperture S,Which constitutes practically an admission port to the pneumatic, the effective area of which is automatically adjustable, and the suction in the pneumatic is decreased and the spring H shifts the tracker bar to the left so as to maintain the normal position of the tracker bar relatively to the sheet. If the edge of the sheet for any reason covers more than the exactly correct area of the aperture S, the quantity ot air admitted to the pneumatic is less than during exactly correct running, the suction is increased, and the tracker bar is shifted to the right so as to correct the error.

In order to provide for sheets having Wider and narrower margins I propose to make the part T in which the tracking-control. aperture S is formed, longitudinally adjustable with respect to the part carrying the note apertures. For this purpose the block T is arranged to slide on the pins E' and F and has a slot in Which is located an adjustable nut U projecting slightly beyond the face oi the block and threaded upon a screu7 V which. is fastenedl to the end of the note-carryingpart of the bar and is adapted to pass freely through the block T. The nut U can then be turned easily With ones finger While the irst'notcs are being played. The nut U isbeyond the edge of the sheet Whicl'i is rmaintained in ya practically lixed position, relatively to the aperture S and the block T. lt the sheet does not register exactly then the turning of the nut U in one direction or another Will cause the note portion of the tracker bar to shift slightly to the right or to the left until its apertures come exactly into alinement Awith those in the sheet, after which the tracking-control is entirely automatic.

Though Ithave described with great particularity certain embodiment of the invention, yet it is not to be understood therefrom that the invention is limited to the particular embodiment disclosed. To persons skilled in the art it would be a simple matter to rearrange the passages foradmitting or exhausting air from the pneumatic, to alter the arrangement and design of spring and pneumatic, to substitute air pressure for suction and to make various other changesiin the arrangement andcombination of the parts without departing from the invention.

That l claim isll Tracking-control mechanism for piano players or the like, including a part having an aperture which is partially open and partially covered by the music sheet in the normal position of the latter', a pneumatic of which said aperture constitutes an admis sion port which is varied in area as the sheet shifts laterally, 'and a suction device communicating with said pneumatic through a bleed hole ot' fixed open area and unthrottled in all positions, a tracker board adapted to be moved in one direction by said pneumatic and a spring tending to move said board in the opposite direction, said port being manually adjustable relatively to the tracker board.

2. In a. piano player, in combinathm', a tracker board, means for passing a music sheet longitudinally over said tracker board, a member bearing a iixed relation to said tracker board and provided with a single guide opening and tracking-control mechanism adapted to e'liect a relative lateral adjustment between said sheet and said tracker board and to hold them in such positions that said guide opening -is normally partially covered by the sheet and partially open, said tracking-control mechanism including a spring exerting a continuous pressure to effect such adjustment in one direction and a single pneumatic having a movable plate M exerting an adjusting pressure in the opposite direction, said pneumatic bcing constantly in communication with said guide opening and having a continuously open unthrottled bleed hole P, and. a suction device communicating with said pneumatic through said bleed hole for maintaining the pressure on said movableplate M.

25. In a piano player, in combination, a

tracker board, means for passing a music sheet longitudinally over said tracker` board, a member bearing a fixed lrelation to said tracker board and provided with a single guide opening and tracking-control mechanism adapted to effect a relative lateral adj ustinent between said sheet and said tracker board and to hold them in such positions that said guide opening is normally partially covered by the sheet and partially open, said tracking-control mechanism including a spring Il bearing at one end against a lixed part of the apparatus 'and at the other end against a movable member for @fleeting such lateral adjustment in one dicol'nmunicating with said pneumatic through iection, and a single pneumatic mounted said bleed hol upon n fixed part of the apparatus, having In Witness whereof, have hereunto a movable plate M engaging said movable signed my name in the presence of two submember to adjust it in the opposite direoseiibing witnesses.

y tion, Said pneumatic having un inlet com- Cil E ENE Ri E T. municating with said guide opening und UG T TU Y having n bleed hole P constituting an ex- Witnesses: hnust port oi constant open area unt-hrot- D. ANTHONY USINA,

10 fled in all positions7 und n suction device LULU STUBENVOLL. 

